Workcycles

Workcycles are the epitome of quality, service and pioneering spirit. In other words, entirely worthy of my 100^th Unilocal review in 2013.
Workcycles are two things: manufacturers of some of the finest city bikes in the world and providers of probably the best service I’ve ever received from a bike shop.
You can find more detail on their immaculately constructed, top-​quality yet competitively priced bikes elsewhere on the Internet, but broadly speaking their ethos is one of all-​weather bikes that remain reliable and highly practical whilst requiring very little maintenance. I’ve had a Workcycles Double Tube Transport for four years now, and its reliability and rugged nature has been a boon to my efforts to traverse London purely by bike. My previous bike seemed to require near constant maintenance. My Double Tube Transport is typically serviced just once a year despite having spent most of its life outside and hauling me and all my stuff approximately 10,000 miles over those four years.
Their service is extraordinary too. My bike suffered a bent fork in a crash (I was fine). I took photos and posted them on Workcycles’ Facebook site late that evening. Within minutes Henry, the owner, was posting his professional assessment of my forks and suggesting how they could be replaced. Just incredible. Six weeks later, my bike was back on the road.
So inevitably I wanted to pay a visit when there for a weekend, partly to hire bikes to see Amsterdam but also partly to see the shop itself. I wasn’t disappointed. I was able to meet Henry, who gave us a good deal on the hire bikes. I also enjoyed more of the same service first-​hand: I needed a new bell for my bike, and one of the staff there, Dylan, gave me helpful and honest advice as to my options. So few bike shops in London have this knowledge or willingness to look over after customers, so this approach is really welcome.
Overall, just fantastic. There are very good reasons why Workcycles won Timeout’s Best Bike Shop award in Amsterdam in 2010 and were nominated again in 2011.

If you had asked me a year ago what I would have been doing on a lazy Saturday in December, bike riding through the canals of Amsterdam was not one of them.
But hey, sometimes, life is full of surprises.
I did a bros weekend in the ‘Dam and the two guys I was with were insane cyclers. One of them had a special Dutch bike from Workcycles and he wanted to see the space. It turns oyt they also rent their bikes there so off we went.
Workcycles is a bike shop first and a bike store second. I mean this in that their primary goal is to build and sell bikes, so that’s most of the space. Bikes being built and bikes being displayed. There are a few things you can buy for bike lovers like bells or locks but mostly it’s all about the bikes themselves.
We reserved three bikes days before but got some hassle from one of the employees about it when only two were left out. I am not sure what was up with this guy but he was angry and gruff. He even said, «Anyone need help? Nope. I’m taking a break» without waiting to see if anyone needed any help.
That was a real shame because the rest of the staff were friendly as could be. They said we needed to put down 300 Euros for the deposit (100 for each bike) but then they went, «Eh, what do you have, we’ll take it.» So we put down 200 and got it all back at the end (minus the 10 Euros per bike rental cost).
The bikes were awesome. Well made, easy to ride, not made for speed but for a leisurely cruise through Amsterdam. Just what I wanted.
Looking to rent a really interesting bike for a few hours, I have almost nothing but good things to say about this spot.